Construction is well under way and a principal has been selected for the county’s seventh high school.

Richard Conley, a current vice principal at Henry E. Lackey High School, has been selected as the principal for St. Charles High School, scheduled to open in 2014 on Piney Church Road in Waldorf.

Conley, according to information provided by the school system, began his career with Charles County Public Schools in 2003 as a Spanish teacher at Westlake High School and was named a vice principal at Lackey in 2008. He has a bachelor’s in foreign language, and government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and has a master’s of science in administration from McDaniel College.

Conley said he wasn’t looking for a specific school but had a goal of leading a school of his own in the county.

Conley said he was grateful for the confidence Superintendent James E. Richmond and the Charles County Board of Education have shown in him.

As for Lackey, Conley said, “It’s really going to be hard to say goodbye to the Lackey community, students and faculty.”

As hard as it will be for him, he said, “I’m looking forward to starting something new.”

Conley said he has looked at the plans and drawings for the school and is interested in starting from the ground up, “seeing where we can go with the new high school.”

The four-story school will be equipped with a digital classroom — a multiuse dome theater featuring high-resolution, 3-D computer graphics and surround sound — and science on a sphere.

According to the designs, when entering the school, students and visitors will see an area containing a large globe suspended in the air, which, through projections, can show real-time weather maps, oceans and other geographical data, along with options to see recorded satellite videos from space.

The community will be able to use the digital classroom and science on a sphere.

The school system is in the process of redistricting for the new school.

Conley said he is looking forward to meeting and working with the school community as it is identified and “working as collaboratively as possible.”

One way of bringing the community together with a new high school, he said, is getting input on the school colors and mascot.

Conley plans to form a focus group of potential parents and students to help with that process.